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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

The developers of Project Deniz, an evolving indie game built with Unreal Engine 5 that unites the thrill of intense third-person shooting with an enthralling storyline, have recently released a new gameplay video, presenting a fierce gun battle.



Not long ago, the developers shared a prototype for AI sight-seeking. This gives the AI characters a lot of understanding of their surroundings and helps them hide better. This should make the gameplay more interesting and improve the overall game experience:



For a third-person-shooting game, high-quality animations can help enhance the visual appeal of the project, providing a richer, more realistic, and immersive gaming experience. From character movements to environmental interactions, well-crafted animations play a crucial role. And Project Deniz's developers also put their effort into creating a pleasing animation experience:



The developers explained their philosophy behind the game's design, aiming to captivate players with a game that's as visually compelling as it is engaging to play. "It is crucial to have dynamic and engaging movements, coupled with vibrant and entertaining animations. That's what we're aiming for with our indie game," commented the team.





If you want to have a closer look at the progress this indie game has made so far, follow them on Twitter.

Action-Packed UE5 Third-Person Shooter With Smart Enemy AI

The developers of Project Deniz have recently highlighted the progress they've made by releasing a new gameplay showcase.

80.lv

 

[adamsapple]

That lady is carrying the thickest of carriages.

I'm interested in this.

 

[Embearded]

Looks incredible, looking forward to it.
Love it when developers try new stuff with AI.

 

[Bartski]

starting to look stellar

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

That is a rather large ass.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Love her hair animations and that phat ass piece

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

why would they tag their own footage with #gameleak lol?

 

[LordOcidax]

Game looks cool. But enemy IA is nothing new in games...

 

[Red5]

It's about time someone wants to advance enemy AI behavior, but I don't anything new in the videos posted, unless I'm missing something. Doesn't seem all too different from anything else, like F.E.A.R for example.

 

[mortal]

Very cool stuff.

 

[March Climber]

Those animations are far too good to be some random indie dev, but whenever I search for more info behind this team I can't find much.

How did you manage to come across this Thick Thighs Save Lives ?

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Those animations are far too good to be some random indie dev, but whenever I search for more info behind this team I can't find much.

How did you manage to come across this Thick Thighs Save Lives ?

Found about it through this recent tweet from 80 level.

 

[PixelatedBeast]

This is basically different version of motion matching system that Naughty Dog uses in their animation. Beware of this being a scam. The hair physics kind of looks too good to be true to render at this resolution, and the character model looks like the chick from Mirrors Edge. Who knows, maybe better hair physics is something Unreal Engine 5 renders very well.

 

[Gojiira]

MC is THICC and has some noice animations, looks great so far

 

[Moses85]

 

[March Climber]

Found about it through this recent tweet from 80 level.

I'm sorry I'm about to go down a rabbit hole here with you, but I have to ask...How did you discover 80-level?

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Those animations are far too good to be some random indie dev

not really, it's just that most devs rein in the frames of animation because it gets in the way of tight and responsive gameplay.

 

[March Climber]

not really, it's just that most devs rein in the frames of animation because it gets in the way of tight and responsive gameplay.

I'm meaning that to say this 'random indie dev' might not actually be random and might have a big backing, but we might not know about it yet. Usually, you can't just have animations looking that good without either ripping from a better game or even having a studio to motion capture.

If we did, more of the smaller devs making new projects on steam would have games looking almost as good as this in animation-level.

 

[LordOcidax]

It's about time someone wants to advance enemy AI behavior, but I don't anything new in the videos posted, unless I'm missing something. Doesn't seem all too different from anything else, like F.E.A.R for example.

They are just using the IA word as a marketing point to sell the game… Create a pool of animations to choose one depending of the player behavior/position is nothing new. But the IA word sells these days.

 

[DaciaJC]

Pretty neat stuff, those animations when she's firing from cover are fantastic.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I'm sorry I'm about to go down a rabbit hole here with you, but I have to ask...How did you discover 80-level?

I've been watching various vertical slices from indie devs lately, and the guys over at 80 level are good at highlighting some of the more interesting ones. You should give them a follow if you have an X/Twitter account.

That said, I think I've found about them a while back through a friend that works in game dev.

I'm not affiliated with them or this indie dev if this is your next question lol.

 

[saintjules]

Saw this earlier. Was gonna make a thread but didn't have more info. Guess OP found it!

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

If we did, more of the smaller devs making new projects on steam would have games looking almost as good as this in animation-level.

But that's the thing, they aren't that good, there's zero personality in any of the animations, and it looks like it's just running through a full clip of captured data; even a simple idle animation in say, SF6, completely blows these away.
What they seem to be leveraging is an animation blending system so all the animations look good working together, but the individual animations aren't particularly special, you could just buy mocap data or outsource custom animation data to a mocap studio for like $700 an hour; there's even fairly cheap personal devices now that make mocap very affordable even for a solo dev, but I digress because in the end it doesn't matter, it's not a movie, if the animations get in the way of the controls, then it's just all fluff and no substance.

 

[March Climber]

But that's the thing, they aren't that good, there's zero personality in any of the animations, and it looks like it's just running through a full clip of captured data; even a simple idle animation in say, SF6, completely blows these away.
What they seem to be leveraging is an animation blending system so all the animations look good working together, but the individual animations aren't particularly special, you could just buy mocap data or outsource custom animation data to a mocap studio for like $700 an hour; there's even fairly cheap personal devices now that make mocap very affordable even for a solo dev, but I digress because in the end it doesn't matter, it's not a movie, if the animations get in the way of the controls, then it's just all fluff and no substance.

If you could point me in the direction of other released indie games that have used these tools, I'd be interested to take a look.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

If you could point me in the direction of other released indie games that have used these tools, I'd be interested to take a look.

that's a weird thing to ask, how would I know that? There aren't really lists of those things lol.
there is a short film that was made that I know of though and the director used one of those personal devices to mocap the movie himself:

 

[Kikorin]

The king of gunplay, animations and enemy AI in a TPS remain Max Payne 3, followed by TLOU2. But this gameplay video looks impressive for an indie project. I hope it'll be a real game someday.

 

[Evolved1]

Everything about this appeals to me.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Smart AI? I can promise you that is not what I saw.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Nice animations.

AI looked dumb as hell standing there in plain view. Smart AI would be trying to peak and shoot from behind the pillars exposing himself as little as possible.

 

[Alexios]

Eh. Idk why it made me think of this complete opposite indie game. Sword, not guns. Dumbs not smarts. Etc.

 

[CamHostage]

Smart AI? I can promise you that is not what I saw.

The sight-seeking AI system for orienting enemies around objects so they make the most use of cover versus find an optimal shot on the player is smart work. Not revolutionary as far as I know, but a good way to design for a dynamic battlefield, instead of a bunch of context-based cover parameters. The AI is is still dumb enough to stick its neck out even after it finds cover, and the animation still needs some systems for fakeouts (popping in and out of cover quickly to give players a sense that they have fear; I think they have some flinching animation to duck when a gunshot sound is heard but it's not all there yet,) but it's still a work in progress.

80.lv does get excitable about what it finds developers tweeting. Project Deniz is a two-man operation and has a long, long way to go before anybody but development progress enthusiasts should care about their WIP. We may (probably) never see this game make it to market. Ignore it and you lose little of value unless it actually gets good. But if is interesting to anybody, have at it.

 

[Chronicle]

It looks great besides the fact that the speed of movement, particularly the take off and sprint mechanic, looks like she's moving through water.

 

[CamHostage]

Eh. Idk why it made me think of this complete opposite indie game. Sword, not guns. Dumbs not smarts. Etc.

Hmm, fun, I guess? Dumbs not smarts, for sure; enemies just path right too you, and I'm not seeing any challenge to the gameplay besides time management. Still, it's very bloody and silly. Good luck to them too.

 

[Puscifer]

Besides the characters fat ass there was literally nothing all that impressive about this.

 

[Perrott]

Eight Days (cancelled)

 

[Griffon]

Looks like a competent TPS system, well made but nothing new to see here.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

I get wary whenever a developer so heavily leans on yapping about the engine. If the fucking engine is the POI, then what does that say about the game?

Also, 80.lv licks ass.

 

[NightmareFarm]

Coming to PlayStation 6!

 

[unlurkified]

Booty downgrade incoming. Calling it now.

Seeing anything with competent AI really highlights how much it’s missing in games now.

 

[GymWolf]

Looks promising.

 

[Havoc2049]

AAAA booty physics.

 

[ChoosableOne]

Death Stranding with organic cargo.

 

[DavidGzz]

That lady is carrying the thickest of carriages.

I'm interested in this.

Am I the only one that reads that in Alucard's voice everytime?

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Daayyumm!!!

She got some junk in da trunk.

I can dig it!

 

[Calverz]

Why does the protagonist have an ass like a trashy only fans model???

 

[EDMIX]

That is a rather large ass.

 

[StueyDuck]

Edit: so doing research and yeaaah not sure about this one, 2 cinematographer brothers wanting to revolutionize gaming... there's a smell coming from this that says avoid, they have a patreon even.

The fact you can't really find them openly saying who they are is usually a telltale sign.

We'll see how it turns out, but I wouldn't get hopes up just yet

 

[FoxMcChief]

Looks great to me.

 

[Neon Xenon]

Neat. Looks promising.
The main lady is cute. Nice hair. Nice ass, too.

 

[ahtlas7]